


let's not forget ourselves, good friend

by arcanamagnus



Category: Transformers: Victory
Genre: Biting, Complicated Relationships, Cunnilingus, Doggy Style, Domestic Fluff, Face-Sitting, M/M, Pre-Canon, Reunion Sex, Sort of? - Freeform, Space Adventure, as is usual, by like over 100000 years, now continued and with a plot! wow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:02:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25712512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcanamagnus/pseuds/arcanamagnus
Summary: Reconnecting after a long time time apart, Hellbat and Leozack must navigate their messy relationship first and worry about Hellbat's super important secret mission second.
Relationships: Hellbat/Leozack
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. let's not forget ourselves, good friend

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 summary (formerly fic summary):  
> Hellbat unexpectedly runs across Leozack after a long time out of touch. Habit wins over good sense as they reconnect.

Drifting back together with Leozack was always a rather… ambiguous affair. They were stronger together, it honestly felt like they were actually  _ made _ to work together rather than Leozack being a last-minute addition to their incomplete trine, but their emotional contents bled into each other too far and, in the heat of war and the heavy toll of personal losses, venting their issues and traumas to one another  _ only _ had built an irreparable rift that opened and closed at an ever varying rate.

Hellbat wasn't quite sure what had brought them back into each other's life this time. There was no assignment that required their squadron or their trine or even the two of them specifically, they'd just… found each other; Leozack was drifting back into the public eye after over a vorn of radio silence and Hellbat was on a short detour from an intelligence mission when their gazes crossed at a mechanical-friendly bar in a trading outpost. It was unexpected — strange, even — because Hellbat had most certainly not been tracing his lovely Captain's movements, not this time, and yet…

It had to be Hellbat the one to cut to the chase and approach his ~~friend~~ ~~lover~~ ~~ex~~ _coworker_ for a chat, it being clear that Leozack would not have stopped staring a hole into him the entire time they'd be sharing space in here.

"Hello, Captain! Long time no see." He greeted with a little flourish; quaint, safe and cute.

Leozack continued to stare at him — critical? uncomfortable? —, pulling his full bottom lip between his teeth —  _ wanting  _ — as he wordlessly offered Hellbat a seat. He was pretty as ever, Hellbat had to admit, even with clear cosmetic damage maring his usually pristine paint — whatever hellscape he'd gotten himself into these past lost cycles clearly hadn't been kind on him.

"How did you find me?" was the first thing out of his mouth once Hellbat settled beside him.

"Same way you found me. Dumb luck." He answered honestly, but knew Leozack didn't believe him. "You've been untraceable for quite the while."

He looked down, expression gloomy but otherwise unreadable. "I suppose I have."

* * *

Catch-up conversation wasn't great — it never really was —, but the casual touch they'd shared during it was as quality and unmistakably  _ intimate _ as it'd always been. Something about Leozack's pensive demeanour made him clingy, and Hellbat would've been a fool not to let him cling — leaning back into each other was so familiar, so comfortable…

"Can I hitch a ride on your ship?" Leozack asked him almost in a whisper, so very close to Hellbat's earfins and he had to suppress a shiver when he so (not) smoothly said yes.

It turned out that Leozack was functionally stranded, left at this outpost by temporary allies he wouldn't name that had apparently had enough of him. He was so purposefully vague it was frustrating, but Hellbat would know everything soon enough, by any means necessary, and he was sure Leozack was well aware of that.

Either way, Hellbat's tiny little shuttle would have to do.

It didn't impress Leozack — clearly it didn't —, but he still marched in like he owned the place, swinging his wings in that way Hellbat knew was completely  _ unintentional _ (but that didn't make it any less hot), and parked himself in the captain's chair, ankle over knee with the tailfin sticking forward.

It made Hellbat smile behind his mask and muffle the beginning of teasing laughter.

"I believe that is  _ my _ seat, my dearest passenger." He bent down close to Leozack's face, one hand on his hip and the other landing a pointer finger on his Captain's bottom lip.

The mischievous smile that bloomed under it was his only warning before he was pulled down on Leozack's lap, a softer version of that boisterous laughter accompanying his fall.

"Then I guess I should share it, shouldn't I?"

The captain's chair definitely wasn't made to hold their combined weight, what with the creaking, but Hellbat could easily ignore that as he muffled his laughter against Leozack's shoulder. Friendly teasing wasn't what he'd expected from this encounter, but it wasn't unwelcome.

It wasn't really surprising, what with their history, that the teasing quickly gave way to kissing. There really was no way Hellbat could have resisted having Leozack under him and his neck so close like this without retracting his mask for a  _ taste _ . Leozack's engine skipped a rotation at the click, and soon the hand behind his head was pulling him in for a bruising smash of lips and Hellbat absolutely could not complain even if what he'd originally intended to taste was  _ blood _ .

It got heated, of course it did, tongues and teeth gnashing together as hands roamed, but the chair decided to protest  _ loudly _ and they needed a change of plans.

"Does this little skip have a bed?"

It did. Hellbat told him so, and removed himself from the chair to unfold the foam slab from one of the walls. It was small and frankly uncomfortable, but it too would have to do.

They sat on the edge of it for a total of three astroseconds before pouncing on each other again. Touch was good, touch was  _ wanted _ and they revelled in it together. Whatever it was that made them fall apart vorns ago laid very deeply disregarded as they reacquainted themselves with something that had always been  _ right _ .

"I want to try something" were the magic words that let Hellbat know that in his future digging for dirt on these lost cycles he'd definitely find that Leozack had tried to replace him with someone else. It often happened during their breaks — Hellbat couldn't say he was innocent on that regard either — and he knew better than to ask, but in the end their little something always prevailed and they'd come out of outside relationships with new tricks to show (whoever taught Leozack  _ scissoring _ was worthy of the highest praise in both their views).

And knowing that? Hellbat was very willing to let Leozack try whatever he wanted.

It ended up with Hellbat on his back — uncomfortable honestly, but his wings and tailfin accommodated as best as they could — and Leozack kissed him deeply before pulling away and moving upwards along his body until he was straddling Hellbat's head. The sight and the smell were intoxicating, and Hellbat was sure the taste would be even more so, but Leozack did not open his panels so much as cheekily tell him to work for it.

And work Hellbat did. Leozack's position gave him just enough freedom of movement to grasp the backs of his thighs and lean forward to nip at the corner from front to middle — Leozack's thighs were glorious, honestly, and Hellbat liked biting them very much even if he could scarcely get any energon to drip out, but he held back until Leozack was twitching at the teasing and started cursing at him. " _ Careful what you ask for, kittycat"  _ flashed in his thoughts as he smiled against the barely scratched plating, but he very consciously did not verbalise it; after all, Leozack hated degradation, despised dirty talk and would  _ kill you _ over verbal humiliation, and his standards for what counted as either were ridiculously broad, so it was safer to keep his mouth shut.

Still, he decided to finally humour him with a _real_ bite, cutting through the metal as if it was jelly until his teeth were fully buried. Simple enough, _that_ got Leozack's panel to retract without any of the ceremony he probably wanted to make of it — _hehe_ _easy peasy_. 

"Don't get cocky on me now." Leozack's thighs tightened around his head in warning, but his voice wavered with the signs of pleasure.

Satisfied, Hellbat licked over the bite and the meager amount of subdermal energon that spilled from it with a smile he was certain Leozack could feel and then trailed his tongue to follow the dripping lubricant making its way down that perfect thigh. He pulled Leozack in closer, lovely white valve now hovering just above him, and placed a long lick over it.

Leozack's reaction was instantaneous — a choked-off gasp of static and some loss of balance as he braced himself on the wall.

Hellbat did it again, this time stopping to mouth at that bright red anterior node and graze it with the blunt part of his teeth. The answering whimper was as delicious as freshly spilt energon, and so was the more insistent press of the valve against his face, though more literally so. 

Like this he could really feel the weight of Leozack's body and it was as if his entire world had been reduced to just  _ this _ , which wasn't really a problem — they'd established early in their sexual relationship that eating out was something they both enjoyed, receiving or giving. The restriction of movement inherent to the position had him reinvent all the ways he knew how to make Leozack tick, more messy and unrefined, but apparently still good as he pulled noise after noise from his Captain with his tongue, teeth and lips.

Hellbat's claws dug deep around the backs of his thighs, pressing Leozack's valve so close he actually felt lightheaded from how much he was enjoying this. At least until Leozack harshly escaped his grip, leaving him to gasp for auxiliary ventilation.

"I think that's enough valve for you."

"L-like you weren't enjoying yourself." The howlback in his words was a little more pronounced than he expected though, so Leozack just looked down at him with an unimpressed look on his face. "Fine, point taken. How do you suppose we get you off then, glorious Leader?"

"Get  _ us _ off." Leozack made sure to point out, pressing himself briefly over Hellbat's body in a way that put enough weight on his poor wings for them to hurt, but that felt  _ nice _ enough for him to miss it once Leozack once again sat off to the side. "Turn around for me?"

Alright, now  _ that _ sounded like a plan. Hellbat sat up and quickly enough resettled himself face down, wings flopping gratefully to the sides, finally freed. He wiggled his aft at Leozack, who proceeded to smack it lightly, just to make a point. He couldn't help but laugh at it.

"Yeah, yeah, glad you're having fun," Leozack grumbled, settling behind him carefully lifting his tailfin with one hand and thumbing his panel with the other, "Surprised you didn't pop this with how much you were trying to drown yourself in me."

"The idea was yours, if my overheated processor recalls it right." Hellbat bantered right back —  _ answering _ was within his rights, after all —, but still retracted his valve panel, finally letting Leozack touch him directly. Eating Leozack out did have an effect on him though, and it only grew more obvious now that the lubricant was free to drip down his thighs.

It was very good that Leozack didn't respond to his cheekiness and instead focused on tracing the rim of Hellbat's valve with two fingers before dipping them in, pulling at his tension cables and feeling for sensory clusters. It made Hellbat whimper into the foam, and when Leozack's teeth came down on his wing he had to snap his mask back into place so he wouldn't completely ruin the padding with his own.

Leozack's bites were phenomenal. His teeth weren't made to quick and cleanly draw energon like Hellbat's – they were meant to maul and dismember and the sheer  _ power _ of Leozack's jaw and neck meant he could literally tear Hellbat's wing off right now with a single jerk of his head, and that was very much  _ hot _ to his very willing victim. Biting was their  _ thing _ , just as much as the snark and the possessiveness.

The grip on his tailfin grew almost painful as Leozack soothed the bite with his tongue and added a third finger to Hellbat's valve. It was all  _ very _ good, but Hellbat still wanted more. He thrusted his hips back as he thrashed and moaned until the fingers were  _ gone _ and he was left to curse about it.

Soon enough though, the highest prize came out. He felt Leozack's spike poke at his thigh and a shiver of anticipation ran through him — he'd  _ missed _ this, even if it did rank pretty low compared to the nonsexual aspects of their working relationship. 

Leozack saw fit to tease him a bit more though, thrusting his spike right in between Hellbat's valve lips agonisingly slow. It felt nice, he supposed, but he didn't get off from external stimulation nearly as much as Leozack did, so he wiggled himself just that little bit more until Leozack sighed and pressed on the middle of his back to hold him still.

"Impatient aft" was all he got before  _ finally _ Leozack lined himself up and started pushing in. Hellbat's wings stiffened and he let out a small moan — Leozack was always a good, comfortable stretch, and the dry spell of this particular break between them made it even more pronounced. 

Finally fully seated, Leozack reached a hand around to stroke Hellbat's midsection in a nice, soothing way. It didn't prepare him for the pounding thrust that followed. Hellbat squeaked half in surprise half in pleasure and arched his back seeking sensation — getting topped by Leozack was a rare treat, even when they  _ were _ actually together, and Hellbat intended to enjoy every astrosecond of it.

Leozack set a slow pace, more preoccupied with denting Hellbat's wings with his teeth than anything else. It felt heavenly, honestly — a delightful combination of pleasure, pain and just generally being tended to — and Hellbat moaned his spark out along with Leozack's own muffled high-pitched sounds. The occasional fast, deep thrust had him incoherent, optics whirling in their sockets and tongue brushing the inside of his mask. Yes,  _ so very good. _

Hellbat couldn't resist when the hand on his waist moved down to rub his node — his overload took him almost instantaneously then. Leozack continued to fuck him through it until he felt like a  _ mess _ and then abruptly pulled out.

Just when Hellbat finally reclaimed enough presence of mind to question it, he felt transfluid hit his aft, thighs and tailfin.

"You know I  _ hate it _ when you do that." He grumbled, fully flopping on the bed now.

"The colour just looks  _ so nice _ on your blue." Leozack's grin was practically audible as he wiped some off Hellbat's tailfin with a finger. "Besides, I still haven't forgiven you for last time."

_ Right _ , last time. It hadn't been a sexual mishap, as the context might imply — in fact, the last time they'd interfaced before this had been rather soft and fluffy actually —, it had been a more  _ emotional _ affair. In short, Hellbat had (for very good reasons he didn't have time to explain) provided leverage for some upstart to humiliate and demean Leozack, and frankly getting cum all over his plating was a fairly mild form of revenge, though befitting of his crime.

Not that having Leozack's transfluid on him in the sanctity of his own shuttle was humiliating. It was just kind of gross.

"I guess I don't expect you to apologise." Leozack completed, after a pause. He shifted on the bed to lay face to face with Hellbat, so much of his body hanging off the edge. "You're very good at making me feel like slag, you know?"

"Bet you say that to all the other guys." Hellbat jabbed — he  _ knew _ in excruciating detail about several uncomfortable relationships Leozack had wormed himself into trying to find one ounce of validation —, but didn't try to defend himself. He adored Leozack as a friend and lover, but he was  _ weak _ and vulnerable as a leader and Hellbat was very well intent on not allowing those insecurities and flaws to harm the Cause, through any means possible.

Silence reigned then, the playfulness of their flirting and interfacing now dead and gone. Just two mechs with a messy and deeply intertwined history lying in bed staring at each other.

"You know I don't like hurting you." Hellbat said, at last.

"But you still do it. All the time. And-" Leozack's voice broke, but came back in an angry accusatory tone, "And I  _ never _ know how to act about it because I  _ care _ for you and I know no one else does."

Hellbat didn't know what to say to that. He stared back silently for a short while, and then lifted himself on his arms to get off the bed, leaving Leozack behind.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd help me clean. I can't really reach it back there." He asked softly, not daring to look back.

A few vocaliser clicks preceded Leozack's deep,  _ deep _ sigh and the sound of him lifting himself off the bed and pushing it back in place. 

"Where do you keep your cleaning stuff?"

"Should be a closet right beside the bed. Same mechanic." Hellbat explained, still so nervous, as he perched back on the captain's chair backwards and on his knees for ease of access.

He stared off into the console, so very uneasy about this now. He cared for Leozack immensely as well - wouldn't dare to say he loved him though, not anymore; didn't really have the right to -, and there was something so right and familiar to being with him, but the difference in their goals and priorities was irreconcilable as much as their emotional needs were. Leozack desperately needed to be wanted, and would do anything for those he loved; Hellbat thrived with attention and had long learnt that negative is easier and more welcome, and was very willing to sacrifice loved ones for his objectives, petty or not.

Leozack came up behind him almost in silence, and touched his wing lightly to announce his presence. He muttered something unintelligible before starting to wipe Hellbat's back with a wet rag.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said 'Is your wing okay?'" He answered gruffly, "I didn't hurt you much, did I?"

"Oh, no, it's fine," Hellbat even wiggled his wings for show, "How about your thigh?"

"Not bleeding anymore. Self-repair should handle it in a day or two." All throughout it Leozack continued to clean, hands careful and light. "Your communications array got a direct line to command?"

"That is, unfortunately for you, classified," Hellbat answered him, tone light, but not really teasing, "I can drop you off somewhere with better infrastructure though. Unless…"

"Unless?"

"Unless you want to come with me! Which you probably shouldn't because you're too much of a hothead for delicate work, but you know I wouldn't mind having you for dinner every night until we can get you reassigned."

Leozack muttered something that sounded like "presumptuous glitch" and stopped touching Hellbat. "You're as clean as you're gonna get. Sit like a normal person so we can have this conversation like grown mechs."

" _ Are _ we grown mechs?"

"I'm, what? 5,060? You're like a little less than a vorn younger.  _ Yes _ , we are grown mechs." Leozack's voice sounded more annoyed than hurt though as he plopped himself on the pilot's chair.

Hellbat righted himself on the chair to face him, but still sat criss-cross mercury sauce on it because he was  _ not _ sacrificing his fun and comfort for being  _ serious _ .

"Right, you've got me! We're adults and we're talking like adults. Do you want to come with or do you want me to drop you off at the nearest base?"

Leozack's face was stern, but it was easy to see his clenched jaw and the hesitant gleam to his optics.

"I don't know your mission parameters."

"And you will continue not knowing."

"Exactly. As is to be expected when you're not under my supervision." He clasped his hands together and stared at them very intently. "Is it vital?"

"Yes." Not quite a lie.

"Hm." Leozack grew quiet again, body furling into himself as he very visibly thought. " _ Can _ you stop at a base to let me out without compromising your mission?"

"Probably not." Again, not quite a lie. "But I'm sure they'll be happy to know you're still kicking."

"Yeah, as if."  _ As if _ indeed. As much as he'd advanced in the chain of command regardless, many Decepticon leaders despised Leozack and not even for his very real flaws, but for being  _ defective _ . Which Hellbat could empathise with: he too was "defective", though less literally so. "You got polish or touch-up paint in this bathtub?"

"Polish yes, touch-up paint just white, blue and yellow. No fixing whatever the last guy did to your thighs and wings, sorry."

_ "No fixing what the last _ — I hate you. I hate you so much!" It was empty, like all the other times he'd said it, too many times before. "It wasn't  _ like that! _ This is literally all battle and weather wear. Femax was  _ crazy. _ "

"So  _ that's _ where they were hiding you, huh?"  _ Intel. Delicious, delicious _ intel. "But, anyway, no teal paint to cover up any damage  _ I _ do to your thighs and wings."

"Bummer. But it's not like," Leozack clicked for one astrosecond, "Not like anyone will see me, is it?"

"Not if you don't want. You can stay in whenever we stop at an outpost if you fear the debauched state of your paint will scandalise other mechanical lifeforms." The tone was rather sardonic, but Hellbat did mean it. "And during the mission I will be out alone. You  _ must _ stay in, unless slag goes sideways and I really need you."

Leozack stared at him, silent, for one astrosecond, two.

"Alright then. I guess I can live with this."

_ What? _

"Wait, really?" It just did not register for Hellbat. This was a logic error of the highest order.

"I don't want you to  _ die _ because of my inaction. And I guess I  _ do _ need to bulk up my resumè after this last stunt before I face Command again."

This was the very definition of catastrophic success, was it not?

Hellbat gathered himself, hands around his feet and wings flapping in flustered thought.  _ Right, he could make this work _ . He'd lived and loved Leozack for  _ so  _ long so many times — he should be able to handle him again, not as a leader or a boyfriend, but as an unofficial  _ subordinate _ . This was… unprecedented.

"Don't overclock your processor over this. I am still mad at you." Leozack pointed his finger at him, leaning forward on his chair. "Maybe running some defrag on that miserable bed will do us good."

"There's two other pop-up beds if you don't wanna—"

"Yeah, let's  _ not _ do that." Leozack protested, getting up to prop open Hellbat's bed again. "We've already got  _ busy, _ might as well lean into it and, besides,  _ I like cuddling you." _

This really was too much.  _ So much. _

"I like cuddling you too," was what he actually said, as he tried to acclimate his brain with the idea of Leozack up close and personal  _ again. _

Primus help him.


	2. we drank pork soda with tangled legs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leozack ponders Hellbat and gets taken care of a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah i couldn't resist continuing this lol. it has a semi-planned plot now and is subject to sporadic updates
> 
> no smut in this chapter just uneasy domestic intimacy

Hellbat slept like a log. That was an immutable constant and Leozack was more than used to having that dead weight draped around his chest whenever his unusual recharge protocols saw fit to wake him up in the middle of a cycle. It made the bastard look almost  _ innocent _ — like he didn't delight in taunting other mechs and creating problems on purpose and  _ messing with Leozack's emotions _ and… —; Hellbat had his cheek and a hand cuddled right up to Leozack's spark and his exposed face was relaxed and serene. A picture-perfect scene of committed affection, to all appearances.

Leozack used to cherish these moments when they were younger, but now they mostly really brought him sparkache. They were a good team, but, more than that, they were  _ supposed _ to be each other's safety nets. They still turned to each other on reflex, but those nets had worn holes with time.

They did still have their moments, though. Leozack still greatly enjoyed being with him when they had no extant orders or plans to attend to — nothing Hellbat would feel inclined to sabotage. Did now even fall under that category?

It had been stupid of Leozack to agree to accompany Hellbat on his secret mission, but he had scarcely any other options and… he didn't want Hellbat to die. It was a stupid thought, really, but it never escaped Leozack's mind. Hellbat was astute and conniving, but he was also clumsy and easily distracted and leaving him up to fate didn't sit right with Leozack. He was a grown mech who was allowed his independence, yes, but he took such good care of Leozack all the times his illness incapacitated him and it was just fair that he returned the favour in agreeing to back him up.

But history had never been Leozack's friend.

Ignoring all those bad feelings and the inescapable urge to hurt himself and others, Leozack stroked Hellbat's cheek and pressed a little kiss to the crest of his helm before trying to catch some sleep again.

* * *

When he woke up again, he was alone on the bed, covered in a thin tarp rather than Hellbat's warm body. The lights insight the shuttle were still at a dim setting, but the distinctive noise of someone making a mess indicated Hellbat was very much still around.

Leozack sat up slowly, fuselage aching from being pressed against such a thin mattress and joints still dry and creaky from his previous misadventures — that exhaust-sucker of a commanding officer on the ship that dropped him here didn't even let him fix  _ that. _ Overall pain levels were relatively low though, so the groan that came out of him while stretching was definitely not a whimper.

The little noise that answered him though? That was definitely a squeak under all the clattering.

Opening his optics looking to the source of the noise, he found Hellbat struggling with the items from another of his hidden closets, presumably a pantry, if the can of oil rolling on the floor was any indication.

He slid out of bed with a little more grinding and creaking and came up behind Hellbat to help him hold back the falling stack of assorted consumables. Together they managed to force it back into a stable pile inside the pantry quite quickly, and Hellbat relaxed in his arms, tilting his head back to look at Leozack with a fanged grin.

"Good morning, helper!"

Leozack's face scrunched up instantly.

"Do not call me that." He pointed out curtly, pulling back to cross his arms and pout. "Whatever happened to 'Leader', to 'Captain', hm?"

Hellbat laughed, throwing a glance back at him as he took a container of energon, a can of oil and a bottle of coolant from the pantry.

"None apply right now, deary Leozack. This is my ship and my mission, I outrank you right this moment." The sardonic smile fell as he offered Leozack the items. "But that also means I gotta feed you and take care of you as your wonderful host and superior, so let's forget that, yeah?"

Leozack stood still for one more moment, but soon caved — there was no point in resisting and he was overdue for fluid replacements anyway. He took the containers and sat back on the bed, looking up at Hellbat a little warily.

"Sit with me?" He requested like the absolute buffoon he was. Leozack hated refuelling alone and despite everything he… kind of really liked the idea of being taken care of, always had.

Hellbat seemed surprised, wings shifting up and optics widening for just one moment, but the fond look on his face won over and he came to sit beside him without making one weird flourish.

Now feeling free to begin, Leozack went for the can of oil first, fingers trembling as he attempted to slice off the lid with his claw. It took a few tries, but he eventually got it, immediately dipping his fingers into it to grease up his aching joints. Ordinarily, just drinking the oil should have his internal systems channelling it to them, but he was too dried up for that to be solved so easily.

Hellbat's hand came to rest on his lower back, right below his nosecone, as he leaned closer.

"Do you need any help?"

That… was a line of thought to pursue, certainly. Oiling joints was intimate, delicate work and it was just very nice to be on the receiving end of. Hellbat used to do it for him whenever they had the resources for it, just to spoil Leozack, but that had been millennia ago. But still, was it really any different from letting Hellbat worship his valve and drink his energon and practically  _ begging him _ to cuddle after? 

"..." He supposed not. "Go ahead."

Leozack offered him the can as he plunged his already wet fingers into his shoulder joint, smoothing over the dry and cracked actuators as carefully as he could manage. Hellbat hands soon joined him, dipping into the elbow of that same arm, delicate, careful and  _ knowing. _

He held back a whimper. It didn't just feel  _ nice _ physically, it was as emotionally nerve-wracking as he knew it would be. Hellbat's intentions were inscrutable, Leozack already couldn't parse them half the time without soft intimacies so at odds with his incredible penchant to make Leozack's life difficult.

Hellbat's hands dipped back into the can and proceeded to Leozack's other arm, pulling the fingers off where they'd stilled in his shoulder and bending the arm just so, widening the gaps. He was quiet as he worked, primary optics focused on the movement of his hands, but a quick glance up revealed that the secondary pair was actually set dead on Leozack's face. The energon (diluted, depleted) rushed to Leozack's cheeks as he bit his tongue to put his thoughts back in order.

It did not escape Hellbat's careful attention, however, a soft little giggle sounding as the fingers left his elbow, dragging a slick caress on the inside of his forearm. The bastard.

But still neither of them said anything, not even as Hellbat slid onto the floor between Leozack’s legs to better work the joints in his lower limbs.

Arms free, Leozack decided to get on with topping up on coolant because he was way too dehydrated and also he  _ needed _ to do something with his hands to resist the temptation of pressing on Hellbat’s head so he’d put his mouth on him — he wasn’t even  _ horny _ , he barely had any slick left in him after last night and, again, being severely low on fluids, but the gentle touch made him crave those teeth sinking into his plating once more.  _ Stupid _ , he mouthed around the bottle’s cap as he twisted it off between his crusher teeth.

Hellbat patted his thigh, right over the still sore bite mark he’d left, pushing it to the side to get into the hip joint. Thankfully he kept his touch clinical, avoiding any of the sweet spots he knew Leozack had. Just a fleeting, oily touch to his acetabulum that was more ticklish and uncomfortable than arousing. Thank the stars for small victories.

But his other hand remained on his thigh, sliding over it and  _ feeling it _ , and as soon as he was done with both hips he looked up with a curious look on his face.

“I hadn’t noticed it last night but, uh,” his face scrunched up a little, as if he didn’t know how to phrase it, “your thighs are bulkier than before? And, like, rounder and stuff?”

Leozack almost choked on the coolant. That… that had certainly happened.

“No CRT for 94 stellar cycles. My original code pattern updated itself and overwrote my usual one.” He grumbled, embarrassed. He was getting rounder  _ everywhere _ . It wasn’t even that getting bulky again  _ bothered _ him all that much, he just didn’t like having it acknowledged. Thankfully the reformat he got ages ago kept his self-repair from reshaping him too much. “I’m gonna need Jallguar to patch it over once we’re done with your stupid mission.”

Hellbat seemed to get it, earfins twitching down and hands sliding to hold his calf, opening the knee joint.

“We can… We could try to pass my code over to you later? I know it’s glitchy, but it’s probably better than leaving it as is.”

“Yeah, that’d… that’d be nice,” Leozack said before downing the rest of the bottle, knee twitching as Hellbat worked his fingers into it. “Do you even know how to… do the coding replacement thingy?”

“Never tried it on gender coding, but knowing how to work code is kind of in the job description for super sexy spy.”

That reminder sent a small shiver down his spine. Hellbat couldn’t mind-control him, couldn’t reprogram him, but he could wreak havoc on his systems if he wanted to — could get him out of the way  _ permanently _ . Still, Leozack trusted in their connection like the fool he was. Hellbat had said it before, he didn’t  _ like _ to hurt Leozack — and was a coward of the highest order when it came to getting his hands actually dirty, Leozack’s mind supplied.

They both paused for a bit, quiet, unmoving, before Hellbat lifted himself from the floor and sat on the bed again, mission accomplished.

Leozack tested his joints, the movements much smoother now, and sighed wistfully thinking of an oil bath to get the joints that couldn’t be worked manually. Oh well, ingestion would have to do.

“Pass me the can?”

“I just had my fingers in it.” Hellbat scrunched up his face again, now clearly a little disgusted, but he hadn’t been Leozack’s friend for over 5000 vorns without knowing that, while he rather liked the finer things in life, his lovely not-always-boyfriend would eat  _ anything. _ He got stomach problems either way and his filtering module was more than large enough to take anything he threw at it, thank you very much. “Ugh, fine.”

Leozack downed the remaining oil in one gulp as Hellbat made a gagging noise. He rolled his optics at him as he crushed the can in his hand and demanded another.

“Remember you still have to fit the energon inside you,” Hellbat told him as he retrieved a second can from the pantry, “How underfed even are you?”

“Was stuck in a low tech planet with only a shoddy Autobot energon converter and rations for one quartex. Haven’t had a proper mean since quartex 2 and the bastards that rescued us didn’t even have the decency to give me more than only one hot mug of mixed fluids.”

“Oh, ew.”

_ “Yeah.” _

For real there were few things more disgusting than that all-in-one fluid top-up solution, even for Leozack.

Still, Leozack opened the new can, hands steadier now, and drank it slowly, savouring it this time.

...Hellbat’s optics were still on him. He lifted his brow to encourage him to speak up.

“It’s just… we probably shouldn’t have fooled around like that if you were this run down?” Hellbat being the responsible one? Unheard of. “I mean, I’m glad you didn’t let me bite your neck because I could’ve sent you into stasis lock from fuel loss.”

“I would’ve stopped you if I wasn’t into it. Also I literally led that part of this entire encounter, I know my limits.” Leozack explained, a little annoyed. Yes, the interfacing was a bit of a lapse of judgement and Leozack definitely hadn’t it in him for a second round, but who gave Hellbat permission to worry about him like this? “Besides, I really needed that.”

Hellbat just sighed before turning back to the pantry again.

“I’m getting you more energon,  _ that  _ you need.”

Right, energon. Leozack crushed the second can and put it aside along the first, and then reached for the energon container. He popped the lid and sniffed it — a little bland, a hint of spice, probably thermoelectric origin — before starting to take small sips. He panted between them, barely spaced, so  _ hungry _ that he now realised he was. It made all the energon he’d had down in Femax with Cloudburst feel like barely a flicker.

Hellbat came to sit beside him again, wrapping a hand around his waist with a new container on his lap. Leozack stiffened a little, but leaned into his hold, still overtaken by that so, so soft feeling of being taken care of.

"You know," he began, staring into the half empty container, "after my body's… resettled my fluids and stuff, we could try to have some nicer not-at-risk-of-fainting sex and you could bite me as much as you want." He didn't say it just out of his mouth, he  _ meant it _ . As much as he was still cautious, he could use an unusually loving Hellbat tenderly undoing him to cement this uneasy alliance, and just generally he needed that tender touch and the erotic  _ trust _ of blood drinking more than anything right now.

It was Hellbat's turn to stiffen, but Leozack noticed him sucking his bottom lip into his mouth, unmistakably wanting, briefly before drawing in a sharp breath.

"I already have everything I needed from here," Leozack was about to sulk because he was not being  _ answered _ , but Hellbat's other hand came to grip his thigh firmly, keeping his attention on him, "We should be alright for takeoff when you're done topping up. We can… consider a repeat performance once ship's good to cruise."

Ha. He knew Hellbat could never resist him (and he could never resist Hellbat, but that was irrelevant).

"We can't spend the entire duration of your stay on that though so you better be ready to tell me about just who let you sit on their face while you were gone." Hellbat continued, teasing, but ended it on a long pause, looking down. "I don't know what I'd do if we never got notice of you again."

It hurt to hear. Because it sure didn't  _ feel _ like Hellbat cared for him when he tore apart every meticulous plan for glory Leozack constructed. He might kiss him tenderly and bite him how he wants it and care for him when pain overtakes him and hold him close when grief comes knocking and be  _ a good friend _ when he wants to, and that clouded Leozack's judgement, yes, but was it really ever worth forgiveness?

He didn't want to think about it.

"Well, I am back. Good luck ever getting rid of me." It was as much a promise as a threat, but it came out far too much softer than it should have. Leozack followed it with a long gulp from his energon, hiding the heat on his face.

Hellbat's hand didn't move from his thigh as he finished the portion, taking calculated looks off to the side just to keep an eye on him. Leozack put the empty container aside and immediately was handed a fresh one. He mumbled a quick "thanks" and pried it open.

"How many orns of fuel do we have?" It finally dawned on him to ask, keenly aware he was probably eating a hole into Hellbat's mission provisions.

Hellbat counted on his fingers, brow scrunching up as he moved them like on a datapad screen. "Six, maybe seven I think?" He shook his head after. "But that's just storage. The ship's heliothermal and photovoltaic arrays are active and can give us a jolt if we need it."

Leozack hummed in assent, bringing the container to his lips.

"Did you refuel before I woke up?" He asked after a long gulp. Hellbat had a  _ problem _ with forgetting to eat and getting woozy later, and Leozack wasn't having his pilot fly him dry.

"Had an internal alarm set for it. I was just finishing putting the stuff back in storage when you started cracking."

"Good." One less thing to worry about then, thankfully. This looked supremely well-planned, well-stocked, almost like Hellbat had ulterior motives with it. "Are you going to tell me what we're doing or where we're going any time soon?"

"Maybe if you ask real nice." Hellbat pouted, a hint of a smile in his optics. "It's going to be cool, I promise, but you know about curiosity and cute little kittycats like you."

Leozack was past the point of annoyance, so he just rolled his optics and finished the last of his meal. He felt… almost okay now — some oiling and a full tank did wonders for the body —, but he also felt insanely fatigued, like all the recharge he didn't catch over the past 94 stellar cycles was catching up with him.

"You can get things ready for takeoff now." He told Hellbat, gathering the empty containers and putting them on the floor. "I'm going to lay down a little more."

"I'll get on that." Hellbat patted his thigh before getting on his feet again, indecipherable fond look on his face. "If you need anything, just scream."

Leozack huffed, and bundled himself up with the tarp again, turning his back to Hellbat.

"Thanks for everything." He mumbled before manually turning off his higher sensory processing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also just some notes but i always write leozack as being trans and having chronic pain and hellbat as having adhd, and while it is not that big a thing here it is relevant so i think it's worth making that clear


	3. kill my reputation if you promise not to tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo yeah it's been quite a while since i've updated anything hasn't it? i promise i'm working on them, it's just not my main focus right now. either way: funny leobat teasing time

Through running all the checks before takeoff, Hellbat was still trying to process having Leozack so subdued and compliant and  _ under his mercy _ for however long it took to obtain the technological secrets Deathsaurus had sent him for. He knew Leozack was still angry, still hurt — with good reason —, but something kept him from leaving, from cutting contact, and Hellbat knew very well what it was. Leozack was an arrogant self-serving aft-kissing  _ bastard _ , but he was also lonely, starved for affection, and completely incapable of falling out of love. Hellbat had never really fallen out from him either, but he at least was capable of putting his duties over his feelings. Leozack's sentimentality would be the end of him, Hellbat was sure.

But not right now. This was Hellbat's mission, Leozack was just along for the ride — there was no need to compete now, no need to fight. It was tearing him apart, truly. The want to be close to him, but knowing they weren't made to last.

Leozack had slept soundly while Hellbat got them airborne, but started to stir with a loud, resounding purr by the time the shuttle broke out of the planet's atmosphere. Hellbat risked glancing back, catching a tantalising glimpse of teal thighs half wrapped in his tarp and a thin line of drool running from the corner of plush lips before he was forced to turn his attention back to piloting, almost getting caught by a moon's gravitational pull.

Right, he still had to drive them out of this star system and then… then they had a few orns to get on each other's capacitors freely until the next gravity well.

Hellbat very firmly ignored the lip smacking noises and fumbling of sheets as Leozack squirmed on the bed, stretching out the sleep for the second time in such a little while. At least the joint creaking was gone now. It hadn't been loud or obvious enough last night — like how the minor changes to Leozack's figure hadn't been —, but they'd been at full force in the morning after such extenuating activities. Really, if Leozack didn't want to dry out, he should've picked an array and stuck to it — Hellbat wouldn't even have minded having to top, Leozack's valve was  _ that  _ good —, but  _ no _ , he had to make a point out of cumming on Hellbat's tailfin. Idiot.

"Mmm what was that?" came Leozack's croaky, drowsy voice in one Pit of an accusatory tone, and Hellbat realised he'd been talking to himself out loud again.

"You're not creaking anymore, that was the gist of it," he saved  _ expertly _ , still not daring to peek back again because they were still at planet four of six and crashing was not an option. "Sleep good?"

"Your bed sucks ass." Leozack deadpanned, like Hellbat didn't know. "But yeah, it was fine. Haven't got to… follow my natural sleep pattern in a while."

Ah yes, that sleep pattern. Leozack might be a failed superwarrior and a workaholic career bot, but he was also a cat and needed more sleep time than the average Cybertronian, often in the form of many naps spaced throughout the orn. It helped make Leozack's rationale sharper, his strategies more sound, but there was scarcely space in the Decepticon schedule for catnaps, so his performance suffered with unprocessed emotion and fragmented logic. A pity, really, but it wasn't something they could easily change.

"Well, you can sleep whenever you need to here as long as I get to pet your tummy and ears." He knew Leozack loved that, and teasing him about it was all in good fun. The answering huff sounded mildly embarrassed, but not like he pushed any limits. "I'll even let you sit on the captain's chair!"

"I think I'll take you up on that." The bed creaked as Leozack got on his feet, and Hellbat did have to look away from the controls when he came up on his shoulder, taking in the readouts. "How much until we're interstellar?"

"We'll reach the outer asteroid belt in a joor or so, we can get past it and into open space in, like, half that."

"Can we really?" Leozack pulled on his earfin just enough to hurt. "You're not exactly known for your fast reflexes."

Hellbat pushed his hand away, ship lurching a little as he released the controls.

"See what I mean?"

"That was— You caused that!"

Leozack just laughed, that boisterous  _ mean _ thing that was so undeniably him, and took a seat on the captain's chair, one leg thrown over the armrest.

"I'm just going to sit here, I guess, but offer's still open if you need to switch for the asteroid belt."

Hellbat huffed, but took it for consideration. Neither of them was an ace pilot on manned aircraft, but Leozack was marginally better, more focused. Still, he was not letting him take over  _ his _ mission, so Hellbat just steeled himself for some risky piloting under pressure.

* * *

"Do you have any games on this thing?" Leozack asked not fifteen kliks into their little bout of "shut up and drive", now bent in some ridiculous position after spending all the proverbial silence shuffling.

Hellbat considered not answering, letting him squirm a bit more, but he knew Leozack knew he had issues with understimulation during space travel, so no point in lying.

"Got some stuff in the main console, but they're only operable on autopilot."

Leozack cursed low, shuffling in place still.

"But I have my deck of cards too, so you can play Solitaire if you want to."

"I don't like Solitaire," Leozack grumbled, but sighed in defeat after a short pause, "Your subspace?"

"Glovebox. Under the comms deck."

"Right."

* * *

The rest of the flight was more fun, with Leozack getting increasingly entranced by whatever Solitaire variation Hellbat suggested he try next and cursing loudly when he reached a dead end. By the time they reached the asteroid field, Leozack seemed to have completely forgotten Hellbat's subpar piloting skills and that was just fine by him. 

They reached deep space with no major incidents. Stretching his legs under the control panel, Hellbat plotted the autopilot's course for the appropriate star system and set up the ship's automatic defenses. Done with it, he looked back at the captain's chair to see Leozack frowning deeply at the spread in front of him.

Hellbat bounced out of his seat and onto his feet, quietly as he could, and popped up over Leozack's shoulder to see what was troubling him.

"That eight on stack six could go on stack one." He observed after a cursory look, a master of Solitaire at this point, and the suddenness of it was enough to make Leozack jump on his seat, plating ruffled.

"What the fuck!?"

"It's not even that hard. Your shuffling sucks ass, there's a lot of obvious matches right in your face."

"I—," Leozack huffed/growled (it was a weird combination sound, fun catbot things) and shook his head, "I  _ know _ , I see them, I'm just trying to figure how to work this right." He closed his optics for an astrosecond, gathering himself. "Are we cruising?"

"Just reached deep space. Console is free if you wanna play stuff on there and  _ I  _ am free for either teaching you how to not be incompetent at cards, hearing your delicious goss from Femax, or getting my brains fucked out again. You choose."

"I just spent a joor playing fucking  _ Solitaire _ , I don't think my pussy has ever been drier." Hellbat tried not to laugh at this stupid snappy comeback, but the mirth must have shown in the crinkle of his optics by the unamused expression Leozack met him with. "I'm tired of games, and I don't want to 'face. We can talk, I guess, but  _ no games." _

"Not even a little bit of games?" He teased, rubbing his face into Leozack's shoulder. "I could make it really nice, just for you."

"Not even a little bit." Leozack grabbed his face, squeezing it hard. "I'll tell you what I want, how I want, and you're gonna sit and listen like a good little battie. That's final." He punctuated it by letting go and getting up from the chair. "You got pillows in your secret compartments? I think I'd rather do this on the bed."

As a matter of fact, he did, crammed into the maintenance hatch under the main cabin's carpeting. Leozack did not miss the opportunity to scold him for this absolute fire hazard, but he helped retrieve the stash of soft cushions and plushies all the same. Together they fixed up the pillows on the bed against the thinly cushioned headboard and just spread around for holding, and soon they got themselves in place for a nice goss sesh. 

Leozack had his back and fuselage supported by the big minky fabric memory foam pillow and had a small six-legged felinoid plushie laid on his lap, good for grabbing and holding. Hellbat had decided to lay on his side, face resting on another large pillow over the calves of Leozack's crossed legs. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable arrangement — they'd had much better with the freighter class bed in Leozack's childhood quarters —, but it was leagues better than how they'd slept the previous night. Settled and ready, Hellbat decided to break the ice with a stupid question:

"So, down in Femax, did you fall hopelessly in love with the Autobot or with a local?"

The beauty of their closeness was that Leozack didn't even sputter excuses like he usually would — they knew each other's game too well to try saving face —, he just sighed and threw his head back before answering simple and clear: "The Autobot."

"And how did that work out for you?" It wasn't snappy, he swore, but his natural blithe tone probably didn't do him any favours. Leozack didn't usually hang on to it though, not unless he was very stressed or upset.

It seemed he was neither at the moment.

"Weird, I guess? I  _ know _ it was mutual, but the leader of the society that took us in took an interest in her, so we weren't really allowed to act on it." He kept it at that, but the tight line of his lips showed he had more to say.

"Long story short?" Hellbat prompted.

"Long story short these bird people had a lot of ritual communal interfacing so we did do stuff at some points to comply with their traditions, but Cloudburst was mega scared of the First One catching her being anything more than civil to me, so it never went past that." He said so flippantly, but the hurt and bitterness was evident on the squint of his optics and the curve of his lips. "You know I don't like  _ casual." _

That would be an understatement, in Hellbat's view of it. He knew very well that in the times between bouts of  _ them _ Leozack was plagued by his sensibility to praise and kindness and his need for attention; it had never come up before their initial fumbling try at a relationship, but probably only because it had consisted mainly of starting to call their romantic friendship what it was. Point was, Leozack needed to be loved loudly and fiercely, and sexual situations where this wasn't fulfilled just depressed him into uselessness. So,

"And that's why you use  _ me _ for quick and easy," Hellbat teased, a level of genuine care and understanding embedded in it, "We're a package deal, whether we like it or not."

Leozack just shrugged, "Better the devil you know."

The ensuing awkward silence sat for a while, them both ruminating on the nature of their connection. Were they really that powerless in the grand scheme of things? Did they ever not  _ choose _ to fall back together despite their differences? How much of this was simply the feeling that they owed the other something? Hellbat didn't like neither the questions nor his tentative answers, so he decided to fire off something else stupid:

"So ‘lots of ritual communal interfacing’, does that mean you got to score with some aliens?"

The sigh that answered was so deep that the warm puff of air from Leozack's chest vents tickled Hellbat's fins.

"I did."

…

"For real?"  _ Sweet Solus Prime _ , he didn't actually expect that, "How… was it?"

Leozack stalled, a weird grimace curling his lips, but answered either way.

"Not really that weird, honestly? They don't do anything penetrative, just, like, oral and frotting, which you know is fine by me, but their feathers kept getting caught in my seams and vents, so by the fifth time or so they decided to just leave me to my hand." He looked down at Hellbat then, gauging his expression before dropping his next wham line. "Next time I fall into such a horny civilisation I'm just telling them we as a species don't fuck."

Yeah, that last part was definitely going for the comedic angle, so Hellbat didn't feel guilty in laughing — Leozack even joined him, a soft chuckle rather than loud and derisive cackling.

"But, yeah, now that you made me tell you who's gotten under my panels while we were apart, I get to dump on you how and why I ended up working with an Autobot, and got us functionally stranded in an organic planet for over a vorn."

"Just had to get the juicy parts out of the way," and then with the biggest concealed grin, " _ Vice-Captain." _

Leozack just blinked, slow and deliberate, but definitely not in a "this means 'I love you' in cat" way.

"You really like pushing it, don't you?"

Hellbat laughed, "Always."

**Author's Note:**

> the original concept was "leobat facesitting fic" i honestly don't know how this grew almost 4k words in a single chapter and a plot hook lol
> 
> either way, do tell if you'd be interested in knowing what wacky adventures they'll get in and how exactly they'll inevitably make up and break up again this time! i do love writing their weird dynamic a lot


End file.
